A University of Ottawa professor who alleges he was denied a prestigious Canada Research Chair promotion based on racial bias has launched a discrimination lawsuit against the school through Ontario's Human Rights Tribunal.
Prof. Amir Attaran, a full professor in the faculty of law, who was recruited from Harvard in 2005 with a prestigious Canada Research Chair professorship, believes the university's decision to deny him a renewal of that position was not based on merit, and claims the denial is evidence of discriminatory practices.

A University of Ottawa professor who alleges he was denied a prestigious Canada Research Chair promotion based on racial bias has launched a discrimination complaint against the school through Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal.

Law professor Amir Attaran, who was recruited from Harvard in 2005 with a prestigious Canada Research Chair professorship, believes the university’s decision to deny him a renewal of that position was not based on merit, and claims the denial is evidence of discriminatory practices.

“There is a systemic problem with not enough visible minorities, women, disabled and aboriginal people getting into Canada Research Chairs, not just in this university, but across the country,” said Attaran, who has filed the suit against both the university and the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa.

The suit claims Attaran was “systemically denied equal inclusion” in the university’s CRC program, and Attaran is seeking $30,000 compensation for lost income and an additional $160,000 for “loss of dignity and distress.” The suit also seeks an order to direct the university to comply with equity targets.

Following a landmark 2006 settlement by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, all Canadian universities are required to meet “equity targets” in four under-represented groups – visible minorities, women, people with disabilities and indigenous people – when filling CRC positions.

“We’re now a decade past that point and the CRC program is still not meeting those targets, and of all universities in English Canada, University of Ottawa is the worst – they’re batting zero-for-four on those targets,” said Attaran. “But in addition to that, they’re behind even other universities that missed all targets.”

None of the allegations against the university or the union has been tested in court.

The University of Ottawa defends its efforts, saying as of Nov. 1, it had “almost” met its target for visible minorities obtaining Canada Research Chairs.

“We are at 90 per cent of our target and will actually surpass it by year end,” wrote university spokeswoman Isabelle Mailloux-Pulkinghorn. “With regards to women who hold a CRC, we are at 75 per cent of our target and are confident that we will reach the 100 per cent mark by the middle of next year; finally, with regards to other two designated groups, the selection committees pursue their recruitment efforts since uOttawa is committed to meet those targets as well.”

Last week, following a full review of the CRC program at the 15-year mark, the national steering committee identified the diversity issue as a “high priority.”

The committee said future changes to the program would ensure the “equity gap” is addressed and, in the meantime, invited institutions to “sustain, review and intensify their efforts in order to address, as soon as possible, the under-representation in the program of individuals from the four designated groups.”

To reach compliance with current targets, the University of Ottawa should fill nine of its 77 CRC positions with visible minorities.

Attaran claims — in contradiction to the university’s statement of reaching 90 per cent of that target — “We only have four (visible minorities). We have less than half the minimum required by a legally binding settlement, and that number has consistently gone down.

“When I was first recruited here from Harvard on a CRC position, we met the target — in the first reporting year in 2009, we were in compliance — but in each subsequent reporting year, the number (of visible minorities) is lower than the past.”

The university said professor Attaran held a Tier 2 CRC in law, population health and global development policy for 10 years with the university, with the two five-year terms “the maximum allowed.”

“Generally, Tier 2 chairs are not meant to feed to Tier 1 chairs. This is clearly stated by the CRC,” stated Mailloux-Pulkinghorn.

Despite this, Attaran claims all three fellow CRCs in his faculty — who are all white — were advanced to Tier 1 positions at the conclusion of their Tier 2 term.

The national CRC program said each individual institution is solely responsible for CRC recruitment and decision-making, but stated Tier 2 chairs are not meant to be a “feeder group” to Tier 1 chairs.

“The intent of funding Tier 2 chairs is to provide emerging researchers who have the potential to achieve international recognition in their fields with the support needed to ‘kick-start’ their research careers,” stated Anne-Marie Cenaiko of the national CRC program. “The program expects that institutions, when managing their CRC allocations, will develop a succession plan for their Tier 2 chairs to help them transition to a regular faculty position after the end of their terms.”

Attaran “is a full professor with all the privileges and responsibilities that entails,” wrote Mailloux-Pulkinghorn. “There are more than 3,000 academics and exceptional researchers at the University of Ottawa and we have only 77 CRC chairs.”

While the university said it has appointed 14 women to CRCs (toward an equity target of 19 chairs), the university would not share exact numbers of visible minorities (target of nine chairs), people with disabilities (target of two chairs) or aboriginal people (one chair), invoking the Privacy Act, which, according to Mailloux-Pulkinghorn, “prohibits disclosure of small numbers for each designated group.”

Attaran believes his case is supported by the similar experience of a fellow CRC chair, who is also a visible minority, and was likewise recently denied advancement of his university-appointed CRC at the conclusion of his term.

In a separate but related discrimination complaint, Attaran cited a critical letter sent from his fellow researcher addressed to incoming University of Ottawa president Jacques Frémont.

The researcher spoke to the Citizen on the condition neither his name, nor the letter would be published, calling the grievance a private matter between him and the university, and saying he didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility of a positive resolution.

Attaran described the fellow researcher as “a superstar” who has secured millions in grant money and led a variety of important research in the field of public health, who “deserved” promotion to a Tier 1 Chair “based solely on merit.”

In the letter, the researcher raised questions over the denial of his promotion, questioned administration on how Canada Research Chairs are appointed and renewed, and voiced his own concern, which he shares with Attaran, over the low level of representation for visible minorities among University of Ottawa CRC appointees.

The university confirmed his research chair has not been renewed, and Mailloux-Pulkinghorn wrote, “A peer-review process determined that there were not sufficient grounds to renew his chair.”

The researcher sent the letter in June, and requested a meeting with university officials to discuss the issue. He is still awaiting a response.

The university provided no further comment on the researcher.

Attaran has also named his union in the grievance, alleging the APUO ratified a collective agreement in May that is “intentionally discriminatory,” according to the lawsuit.

The collective agreement contains mandatory equity provisions for women but, according to Attaran, those provisions are “merely optional” for visible minorities, people with disabilities and indigenous people.

APUO president Jennifer Dekker said she was “not aware” of a discrimination lawsuit when contacted by the Citizen.

“I do know that he re-activated an old complaint concerning racial discrimination when his position as Canada Research Chair was not renewed, though there are never any guarantees that such arrangements will be renewed. Amir held the position for two five-year terms – the maximum amount of time that it is possible to have a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair. This old complaint is against the employer and not against APUO. APUO has offered to support him at the tribunal.”

Attaran suggested there has been some dissent in the union ranks over his grievance. He was caught by surprise at a union meeting last week when he was met with a motion for censure, and after the vote passed “with some debate,” the professor claims, he was asked to leave the room.

Dekker would not confirm the sanction, nor disclose any internal union matters, citing a confidentiality agreement, while noting Attaran is also bound by the same agreement.

Dekker said APUO “is working in various ways to tackle discrimination at the University of Ottawa. Our collective agreement prohibits discrimination, we have a joint committee with the employer on equity, diversity and inclusion, and we have a subcommittee that is working on discrimination in the context of the Canada Research Chair program.

That subcommittee was struck by former university president Allan Rock, who acknowledged the diversity shortcoming in May, when a report identified the school as lagging behind other post-secondary institutions in meeting its CRC equity targets.

“At the University of Ottawa, we are not doing as well as we aspire to do in terms of the diversity among shareholders,” Rock said at the time. “We have to redouble our efforts because equity and diversity are important to us as a university and a community.”

At the time, the University of Ottawa said it, unlike other universities, was required to consider a candidate’s bilingualism in addition to other merit-based criteria.

In April, Rock appointed Martine Lagacé, a professor in the communication department, to head up a Diversity and Equity Office that will report directly to the president on diversity and equity issues.

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